by James Hoch
My mouth was salivating before I could even respond. I sat up and this time I did not get a burlesque demonstration of dancing lights. Sela handed me a chunk of meat. I devoured it and looked over at her with begging eyes.
"More?" she asked teasingly.
"This is fantastic. Thank you," I said, taking another slice of meat.
"So, what took place out there this afternoon?" Sela asked as she sat back against a tree. Looking around, I could see we were camped in a small grove of trees. The rest stop was off to one side of the road. The horses were tied to trees near us. Jerky was nestled on my backpack.
"I don't remember much."
She looked at me, anticipating more explanation. "Well, what's the last thing you do remember? Maybe we can start from there and it will jog your memory."
Staring at the rest stop, I could see the door to the restrooms. They were bathed in moonlight, giving them an eerie appearance. "The storm. We were in the restroom and baseball-sized hailstones were clobbering the roof. The sound was hurting my ears, and I could feel…" At that point, I trailed off mumbling incoherently.
"Good. That's right. We were all hunkered down in there and-"
"I felt my insides tighten," I said.
"Yes, that's right. Then you stared into Hope's eyes for the longest time." Sela said.
"Yeah, my mind focused sharply and I knew exactly what to do. I remember handing you the horse's reins and walking out the door. From that point, it's really fuzzy."
"You went outside into the storm. Hailstones were smashing the ground all around you and they were getting bigger by the second. They became the size of basketballs. I'd never seen anything so awful."
"Yes, I remember that now. Then a strength-no, more like a determination-flooded my muscles and…um…a…a force raced through my veins."
"You raised your-"
"My arms. I raised them and shouted something. I don't exactly remember the words. It felt good though and that force inside me seemed to fly out of my fingertips."
"Three huge hailstones nearly flattened you like a pancake. They made craters several inches deep in the dirt. And the storm ceased immediately. You made the storm stop."
I looked at her incredulously. "I don't understand."
"Heckel, you made the storm stop. I saw you. You lifted your arms up to the black skies and shouted something to make it immediately cease."
"That's not possible."
"What if you did? Think about it. Suppose Madeline's evil was behind that storm."
"She sent that storm?" I asked as I stood up to walk around. Jerky lifted her head to stare at me.
"Considering all that she's done, I don't think it's too much of a stretch to see that she is capable of conjuring that horrible tempest. Remember when we first saw it, how bizarre and unusual it looked."
I nodded my head in agreement. "So, why did she send it at us?"
"I'm beginning to think it was at you after seeing how you fought back and how the storm dissipated from your command."
The light from the moon diminished as clouds streamed across it. Cricket songs sounded particularly happy, perhaps enjoying the pleasant warm autumn night. I paced around the fire. Could I somehow really have commanded that storm to go away? Hmm. And what about the show of strength pushing the VW Bug? And for the love of God, why do I have this drive to make it to Oregon? I walked farther away from the fire into the dark night.
"Heckel? Are you all right?" Sela asked, getting up and walking toward me. The moon intensified as she approached. The soft glow filled her face, casting a luminescence that was alluring and comforting. She put her arm around my waist.
"I'm fine. Perhaps, a little confused."
Sela turned me to face her, and kissed my forehead. "Yes, you are and things will work out. After what I witnessed today, I'm convinced that we can bring Madeline down."
I hugged her tighter. The warmth from her body washed over me. I leaned in and kissed her soft lips. She kissed back with an inviting response as her tongue gently explored and traced my lip. Her hand stroked my back. Breaking the kiss, she brought her mouth to my ear and whispered, "Make love to me."
A gentle breeze brushed across our faces and the musty, earthy fallen leaves filled the air. I took her hand and led her back to the fire. She lay down on top of her sleeping bag as I put several logs on the fire. Immediately, the warmth of the burning logs filled the camp sight. Sela reached up, took my hand and with a loving smile, pulled me down to her.
The cricket songs diminished as the night wore on. Our lovemaking lasted into the early hours of the morning well past the moon setting over the treetops.
"Just incredible. I haven't felt this alive for a very long time," I said, stroking Sela's hair."
"Me, too. There's such a loving warmth cascading through every inch of my body."
We held each other as we went to sleep. Before I drifted off, I looked one more time out at the rest stop, noticing the twisted metal roof and shattered windows. Slowly, I shook my head in disbelief.
Chapter 10
"Ouch," I yelled, sitting up. Jerky stood in front of me with what I swear was a grin. "Why'd you do that?" I rubbed my ear where the cat had bitten. "I sure hope you didn't draw any blood."
"Guess she wanted you to get up." Sela put her arm around my waist and pulled me back down next to her.
"Well, she needs to learn a better way. A nice gentle kiss would do."
Sela kissed my ear and the warmth of her breath sent shivers down my spine. I turned my head and kissed her passionately. We hugged each other and felt warm. There was a slight nip in the autumn air, probably a warning that winter would be arriving soon.
"So, back on the road today?" I asked.
"Yup. We need to get farther south as soon as possible. This nice weather isn't going to last around this area much longer."
Sela took her clothes from the bottom of her sleeping bag and got dressed. I couldn't help but stare and admire her. She smiled at me. "See anything you like?"
I growled and wrapped my arms around her neck. "You are the most gorgeous woman I've ever met."
Sela giggled as I nuzzled her neck. "Flattery will get you-"
Jerky hissed, arching her back. She was looking down the road from where we had come.
"Okay, time to go. Our early warning system has just been initiated," I said, immediately pulling on my clothes.
We wasted no time packing up. Within a few minutes, Sela had both horses saddled and packed. As soon as I was on Hope, the horse knelt down to let Jerky jump onto her back. I didn't even have to give her the command. The horse could sense the expediency of the situation. Before Sela got on Tempest, she kicked dirt on the remaining fire embers. Jerky was still looking down the road and hissing.
Before I could say anything, Sela jumped on Tempest and they took off. We kept a brisk run for a long while. At one point, I could see that Jerky had calmed down and was sleeping. She liked to rest on my shoulder. I was relieved she wasn't too heavy of a cat. Her breathing and warmth felt good on the back of my neck.
After several miles, Sela slowed down, reached into one of her saddlebags and pulled out a large chunk of jerky. She handed a piece to me and gave Jerky a smaller one.
The morning sun had melted the slight tinge of frost on the grass. It was looking like another perfect warm Indian summer day was shaping up. As we came to a crossroads, Sela pulled a map out of her saddlebag. "I think we're in Kansas."
"That's funny. It reminds me of The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy says 'We're not in Kansas anymore.'"
Sela crinkled her forehead and said slowly, "And how is that funny?"
"I know. I'm weird. I don't know why when anyone ever says 'Kansas,' I always think of that line."
"You're not weird, and if Kansas makes you laugh…that's just fine. We need laughter," Sela said with a grin on her face. "At any rate, I think this is highway 59 and it will lead us down to I-70 and Topeka. We can then jump onto I-335."
As she was so nonchalantly giving us directions, it reminded me of one of the significant horrific events that took place shortly after that bloody Super Bowl.
"Road rage," I said softly.
"I don't think we'll encounter any of that. No one's been doing much driving lately," Sela replied, looking intently at the map.
"No, I was just remembering all the road rage that happened during that spring."
"Oh yeah. The mass insanity had a field day or I should say weeks with all that hellish business."
"You were back east then, right?"
"Yes. I witnessed those bloody, terrifying days first hand. One asshole, I mean one disgruntled driver, lifted a shotgun from the passenger seat and shot at me because I was observing the speed limit, I guess. At any rate, when I saw him lift a shotgun, I sped up. He started chasing me. We topped speeds close to a hundred miles an hour."
I stopped Hope and stared at Sela. She looked at me with terror on her face as she retold the story.
"He kept on my tail. Ramming his big SUV into the back end of my little Subaru. He put his shotgun out the window and fired, causing the back of my window to shatter. I went faster. I thought for sure I was dead."
Reaching over, I put my hand on Sela's thigh to console her.
She smiled and continued. "At one point, I saw an exit approaching. I started to go up the ramp and at the last minute swerved to go back onto the freeway. The road-rage-fueled maniac didn't react quickly enough and slammed into a barrier. He departed his vehicle through the front windshield and went flying through the air. He flew into some wires, which surgically sliced off his head and the arm holding the shotgun. His big SUV went sailing off the road and smashed into a large tree. The car actually exploded on impact."
Sela paused for a moment, sighing deeply. "I was shaking so badly as I eased my car down to normal speeds. I pulled off to the side of the road and cried for the longest time. People who saw me battling with the creep never even bothered to stop to see if I was all right. They either just drove by like nothing happened or honked their horn along with giving me the finger."
"That road rage took place all over the world. Again, it was as if something triggered it. Obviously, it was an evil that Madeline had set up years earlier. No one ever figured out why. It seemed like a good quarter of the world's population died from those tragic and horrific killings."
"Do you remember what happened in Los Angeles?" Sela asked.
"How could I forget? It was all over the news."
"Yeah, it wasn't much longer when the media had its last days and that was the end of knowing what was going on in the world."
I nodded my head in agreement. We swapped stories of what we remembered from the big L.A. road rage. "Blood flowed heavily over the highways for weeks. Cars piled up in huge heaps. It took road crews days to clear some of the roads."
"And then another road rage event would take place, day after day," Sela noted.
"After a while, the road crews started to just leave the wreckage," I said. "Which just fueled more road rage."
"It got pretty gruesome with all the coyotes coming down from the hills in L.A." Sela lightly kicked Tempest to start moving.
"Not to mention the diseases that followed. It was pretty much the end of L. A. and most of the other major cities."
"Months later, you began to see fewer and fewer cars on the roads."
Sela recounted how she decided at that point to make her way back to the family homestead in Iowa. She said that after abandoning her car, it took her months to get home.
"Remember how gas stations started shutting down and people started killing each other for gas. When I took that trip home, I carried a Glock with me at all times."
"The price of gas had gone through the roof. Many of those gas stations were burned to the ground because people were so upset at the cost."
"Not to mention all the oil refineries. I'm sure Madeline somehow had her finger in that one as well. She manipulated the disasters and destruction which pretty much put an end to air travel, trains, and anything that ran on gas," I recounted.
Jerky shifted her weight on my shoulder. We walked the horses a little farther in silence. "Well, who would have figured we'd be back to using horses for transportation," I said, petting Hope.
"Unfortunately, too many horses have ended up as food," Sela said with a quiver to her voice.
"Well, that certainly won't happen to these beauties," I said defiantly.
Sela picked up the pace and we ran the horses for several miles. As noon approached, we saw a farmhouse off in the distance. Sela slowed Tempest to a walk.
"Hmm, what do you think?"
I looked at Jerky and detected no concern. "Jerky's alarms are not going off. I suppose we can stop in and see if we can find anything. Just stay alert."
Sela pulled out one of the rifles from the scabbard on the side of Tempest. She put the gun on her back and took off the safety. I nodded my head and did the same.
As we approached the farmhouse, we could see that it had been vandalized and picked over. The windows were all busted, the front door was hanging by one hinge and a skeleton with part of its clothes hanging on its frame was lying on the side porch. Jerky jumped off my shoulder and dashed around to the back of the house.
"What do ya think?" I asked, nervously holding my rifle in front of me.
"I think we're okay," Sela said dismounting from Tempest. She found a place to tie up the horse. Sela took Hope's reins and tied her up as well.
As I got off Hope, I whispered, "I'm sure there's nothing to scavenge around here. Looks like it's been pretty well picked over."
"Maybe."
I followed her into the farmhouse. The inside looked as trashed as the outside. I stood in the front room visualizing how it must have looked when a loving, caring family occupied it. Lace doilies were strewn around the floor where an overstuffed sofa was lying on its side. Beautiful oak end tables were busted up into rubble. A large lump filled my throat as I saw a child's doll in the corner with its head ripped off. As I walked into the kitchen, I could see a large blood stain on the linoleum. It trailed off to the back door. Sela followed it out to the back porch. Standing on the top step, she pointed to the barn. "Looks like the trail goes to the barn."
"Where are you going?" I said grabbing her by the arm. "Maybe we should just go."
"The blood stain is very old. I'm sure whoever did this is long gone. Come on. Maybe there's some grain or something in the barn for the horses."
Jerky came running toward us proudly carrying a dead mouse. "Well, at least one of us is having lunch. Bon appetit," I mumbled, following Sela into the barn.
The sliding door to the barn was partially open. I stepped in front of Sela and slid the large wooden door to the side. It buckled slightly on the track as I wrestled with it and stopped. Sela stepped into the barn and gasped. I pushed the door hard and it slid wide open the rest of the way. She stumbled backward, bumped into me and raised her rifle. I slowly encouraged her to lower the weapon.
The bright autumn sun illuminated a gruesome sight. Dust from the barn danced along the rays. Five skeletons hung from the uppermost rafters, arranged in size. Sela turned away, crying. I put my arm around her and edged her toward a large oak stump. A rusty axe sat on the ground.
After a few minutes, Sela gathered her strength and said, "I'm fine now. We should see if we can find anything in the barn for the horses. Go around front and bring them back here."
"You sure?" I asked
"Fine. Go."
When I returned with both horses, Sela was coming out of the barn with a large burlap sack.
"Okay, my beauties, how about a treat?" she said, setting the bag down.
"What is it?"
"Oats," she said taking out a large hunting knife and slicing a long slit on the bag. Both horses immediately helped themselves, slowly devouring the grain.
"I think I may have found a root cellar as well. I'm going to see if there's an
ything in it. I'll be right back."
I sat on the stump, watching the two horses eat. Jerky came by with another mouse dangling from her mouth. "Don't overeat. You might get indigestion," I said to the cat.
A few minutes later, Sela came out from the barn with a huge smile. She was carrying two large jars.
"I don't believe it. Are those peaches?" I asked.
"Yup. I found some dried meat and other items we can stock up on. These just looked so good," she said handing me a jar.
"How'd you find the root cellar?" I asked, taking out a big peach from the jar.
"Remember…farm girl?" she asked, pointing to her chest. "I just knew where to look. I'm sure scavengers had no idea where farmers like to put their root cellars. We just struck a gold mine."
We all sat eating contentedly. I flashed Sela a large grin with my cheeks full of sweet peaches.
Before we left the farmhouse, we filled our packs with as much food from the root cellar as we could. "What do you think happened here?" I asked timidly.
"Hard to say, but it looks like maybe Dad killed his family, strung them up in a sadistic tableau and then did himself in. Very sad."
"How could anyone do that?" I asked in disgust.
"There were a lot of those scenes across the planet-people killing each other. A virus of insanity spread viciously and there was no cure for it. Come on, let's get out of here. I don't want to talk about it anymore." Sela mounted Tempest and raced out of the barnyard.
Hope bent down, Jerky jumped up into my lap and we followed.
The rest of the afternoon rolled by uneventfully and it was a welcome relief. We passed field after field of what once probably, at this time of year, would have been busy with farmers' combines harvesting…well, whatever Kansas used to be known for. Occasionally, we would spot the skeletons of cattle lying in the fields. Most likely they had been gutted and sliced up by marauders or perhaps attacked by wild dogs and maybe wolves. I started wondering about those demonic dogs that had been summoned by Madeline to attack Leonard. Were they still following us? As for wolves, I couldn't remember if there were wolves this far south. I knew that Minnesota had a large wolf population, but as for wolves in Kansas, I had no idea. However, given the fact that they were hungry, and looking for food, I wouldn't be surprised if they made their way this far south.
